


Birthday Buddies

by storm_8



Series: Family Snapshots [10]
Category: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: Birthday Presents, Birthdays, F/F, Original Character(s), Rizzoli-Isles children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23362777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storm_8/pseuds/storm_8
Summary: On the occasion of their sixth birthday, Mike and Danny had asked their mothers if they could choose a gift to give to the other. Jane and Maura readily agreed and what followed were a number of unforgettable moments!
Relationships: Maura Isles/Jane Rizzoli
Series: Family Snapshots [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/47933
Comments: 17
Kudos: 45





	1. A birthday request

**Author's Note:**

> So, I posted a short snapshot titled [A birthday request](https://archiveofourown.org/works/843763/chapters/55841971) and I may have mentioned that there would be sequels... and as I was writing one of said sequels, it completely ran away from me, becoming bigger and funnier, and this is the end result!
> 
> I decided to compile all the related snapshots in this one work/post so it's easier to keep track. The first chapter is the same as the short snapshot I mentioned above. The next chapter is about Mike's endeavours to procure his brother's gift. Another chapter will be about Danny's efforts to find his brother an awesome gift. And in between there will be some 'missing scenes' or extra scenes that I decided would work best separately to avoid breaking the flow of the story.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!
> 
> As usual, I don't own the show or its characters. I merely borrow them for everyone's enjoyment.  
> I do own the original characters: I am quite fond of them!
> 
> All mistakes are mine.

On the occasion of their sixth birthday Mike and Danny had asked their mothers if they could choose a gift to give to the other. Kenzie had been incredibly amused when she witnessed the two boys presenting their case to their mothers.

On a Sunday afternoon, the twins walked up to their mothers sitting in a cuddle on the couch. Danny took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and shook it out, before standing up straight, holding the paper out in front of him and looking up at Maura and Jane. Mike then attempted to clear his throat, which more or less resulted in some spit flying about.

“Momma. Ma.” Danny started in a very serious tone. Mike nodded along. “We have a very important question.”

Jane and Maura looked at each other in amusement, before focusing their attention back on their sons. “We are listening, please continue.” Maura gestured with her hand, smiling as both boys grinned her way.

“Momma. Ma.” Danny continued. “You know our birthday is coming soon.”

Mike nodded enthusiastically. “We’re gonna be six-years-old, that’s this many!” He held out a hand with all his fingers splayed out and then added a ‘thumbs-up’ gesture next to it.

Jane chuckled. “Yeah, buddy. We, especially me, are very aware of your birthday. You’re getting big…”

“Yes!” Mike pointed a finger and nodded enthusiastically again. “We’re not little boys anymore!”.

Danny nodded seriously and shook out his paper. “So, we had a question. And we made a list of reasons for the question. As a- uh…” He stopped, mouthed something to himself and then slowly enunciated “jus-ti-fi-ca-tion!” And shook his paper again.

Maura quirked an eyebrow over to her eldest daughter who was sprawled on an armchair watching the proceedings with great interest. Kenzie just grinned and shook her head. “I had nothing to do with this. This was their idea.”

“Yes.” Danny stated with a nod, before frowning in contemplation. “Well… Kennie gave us the paper. And the pencil.”

“Thanks Kennie!” Mike grinned and waved at her enthusiastically, before poking his brother on the arm. “Tell’em the list Danny.”

“Oh, yes.” Danny shook out his paper again. “Mike and I talked a lot. And we want to get a present for each other for our birthday. We have a list of reasons!” He waved the poor sheet of paper again and then leaned over to whisper (loudly) to his brother. “You remember the list, right?”

“Yes!” Mike whisper-shouted back.

“Okay! Number one!” Danny poked at his paper, where Kenzie could make out a short list of three items with very wobbly numbers and some scribbled lines and wobbly random letters.

“Danny is my best buddy and I’m Danny’s best buddy!” Mike declared.

Danny nodded in agreement and then poked his paper again. “Number two!”.

“It’s our birthday and we are big boys!”

“Number three!”

“We have our piggy banks with lots of coins!”

“And number four…”

Mike was grinning proudly, but suddenly stopped. “What? There’s a four?” He shuffled over to his brother, who was squinting down at his paper and poking at a wobbly number four with a wobbly letter ‘p’ next to it.

“Yes, Mike. Look.” Danny tilted the paper “It’s the ‘p’ word…”

“Oh, you’re right! Almost forgot!” Mike straightened himself and patted his twin on the shoulder.

The two boys took a deep breath and simultaneously intoned, “Please!”

“Oh my god!” Kenzie hissed to herself in astonishment. “That is the most adorable thing I’ve ever witnessed!” And then promptly fell over the side of the armchair where she had been precariously leaning over to peek at Danny’s paper.

“Kid, you’re a menace.” Jane scoffed at her eldest where she lay on the floor exaggeratedly squealing to herself, poking her in the side with a foot.

“My boys!” Maura enthused, misty eyed and proud. She leaned forward, welcoming her grinning twins into her arms with a laugh. “I’m so proud of you for presenting your idea and justifications.”

“Yeah? It was good momma?” Danny asked with _another_ wave of his paper.

“It was perfect…” Maura said, once again misty eyed.

“And can we do it momma?” Mike asked with an excited wiggle in his mother’s arms.

The doctor hummed pensively, pulling back gently to look at both boys. “I think we can accept your proposal…” There was an excited shout from the twins. Jane chuckled and threw an arm over her wife’s shoulders. “But first I’d like to ask a question.”

Kenzie flopped over on the floor, so she was lying on her back and was able to see what was happening, even if it was upside down and at a weird angle.

“Okay momma. We can answer questions.” Danny said very seriously, waving his paper around one more time.

“In your list…” Maura gestured at the paper “…there were four items listed.” The boys nodded in sync. “My question is: what is the most important item on that list?”

“Number 1!” Danny stated imperiously. “It’s why it is number 1.”

“We’re best buddies!” Mike exclaimed flailing his arms and then hugging his brother close.

Kenzie lost her composure once again, flailing about on the floor in an overly dramatic fashion. Jane snorted, “Oh my god kid, control yourself!”, and then started laughing in earnest when Maura sniffed and shed a tear and then threw her arms around her grinning sons.


	2. A Celestial Buddy for Danny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As mentioned before, this is the chapter of Mike's endeavours to find the perfect gift for his twin.
> 
> And for those of you interested: [Celestial Buddies](https://www.celestialbuddies.com/home.html).

Saturday morning found the Rizzoli-Isles family sat around the dining table over breakfast. Jane was busy cutting up strawberries, bananas and apples to distribute to the children. Sarah was most delighted in stealing all the strawberries from her mother’s bowl, stuffing them in her mouth and smearing the juice all over her cute face. Danny watched in concentration as Kenzie drew a smiley face on his last pancake with the chocolate and strawberry sauces and topped it off with whipped cream curls for hair. Maura was looking sternly at Mike as the boy managed to stuff two pancakes in his mouth at once and basically covered his lower face in chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

“Michael. Those are not proper table manners! You are not a hooligan, we do not _stuff_ our faces with food!” The doctor said sternly, whipping out a paper towel. “Please wipe your face!”

Mike pouted at his momma (which Maura had to admit was rather cute because of the chocolate sauce beard and whipped cream on his nose), and dutifully grabbed the paper towel. “ ’m sorry, momma. I got excited! Your pancakes are the bestest!”.

“Well… Thank you. But that is not an excuse for appalling table manners.”

Mike nodded with another pout and attempted to wipe his face. Maura had to laugh when it actually made things worse. “Let me help you.” She rose from her chair and knelt next her son’s, proceeding to gently clean up his face. He smiled at her and gave her a sticky chocolate kiss on the cheek. Maura chuckled. “Why are you so excited today?”

“Oh!” The little boy’s eyes lit up. “I had an idea for Danny’s birthday gift!” He proclaimed excitedly as Maura finished wiping his cheeks. “But it’s a secret, shhhhh!” He clapped his hand onto his mother’s mouth, while everyone around the table laughed.

“I see…” Maura gently took his hand away from her mouth. “Well, it seems that you are both on the right track then, because Daniel has told me he also had an idea for your gift.”

“Really?!” Mike exclaimed, twisting in his seat to look at his twin. Danny grinned. “Yes! This is so much fun!” Mike was beyond excited and fell out of his chair in his exuberance. Maura barely managed to catch him and by the time everyone was done with their breakfast, Mike had run three times around the table and living room in his excitement and was finally able to sit back in his seat somewhat calmly. Maura could only shake her head in amusement.

“Now that Michael has expended some of his excess energy…” The boy in question beamed at everyone “… we need to finalize our plans for today. Michael, Daniel, have you decided what you want your activity today to be?”

Mike’s hand shot up in the air. “Momma, can I go first?” He then turned to his brother. “I wanna go first, ‘cause… ummm… well, I need Kennie’s help to get your gift. Is it okay?”

Danny nodded seriously. “Can I ask a question?” He waited for Mike’s nod before continuing. “Is it gonna be a fun gift? Oooh, am I gonna love it?!” He asked, eyes bright.

Maura and Jane watched the exchange in amusement.

Mike laughed. “Yes! Well… I think so…”

Danny grinned back at his twin. “It’s okay Mike, we’re best buddies, were gonna get the best gifts.”

Kenzie was very glad she’d had the foresight to start filming the whole thing on her phone as soon as Maura had managed to wrangle Mike back onto his seat. The excitement of the twins over getting each other a birthday present was one of the best things she’d ever witnessed, and she was sure Jane and Maura would appreciate looking back on the occasion with video.

“Yes, okay!” Mike turned back to his mother after sharing a high-five with his brother. “Momma, I need Kennie’s help. I wanna go to the-… oh… maybe I shouldn’t say? Danny is really smart, he could guess and then it won’t be a surprise!” He frowned in contemplation.

Jane chuckled. “Well, you guys are taking this very seriously. How about you tell Kenzie where you want to go, and she’ll tell us without ruining the surprise for anyone?”

Mike nodded. “Yeah. Thanks Ma!” He scrambled off his chair and dashed past his brother to throw himself on his older sister’s lap. “Hi Kennie! Can I tell you a secret?”

Kenzie laughed, setting her still recording phone against the saltshaker on the table “Sure buddy! Let’s hear where you want to go. You can tell me all the details later, okay?”

Maura and Jane shared another amused look, and then started laughing when Danny put his hands over his ears to go along with the whole thing. Kenzie leaned down so Mike could whisper in her ear. She hummed in acknowledgment when the little boy quietly told her he wanted to go to the Science Museum.

“Okay…” She nodded to Mike as he looked up at her. “We can do that.” She turned to her mothers. “I think we can take Sarah too, but we can discuss that depending on what Danny wants to do.”

Mike grinned. “Okay! Danny, it’s your turn.” He called to his brother patting him on his leg.

“Oh, I wanna go to the Aquarium. Want to see the sharks again!” He said with a big grin.

“Are you sure Daniel?” Maura asked. “You were there last weekend.”

“Oh, yes. But Doctor Toby said a new turtle and a new baby shark were coming to the Aquarium and that I could come meet them today!”

Jane nodded along. “It’s true, I remember. Danny was very excited about the baby shark.” She grinned at her son who was nodding vigorously in his seat. “Actually, so was Doctor Toby… You could see the stars in his eyes…” Jane huffed out in exasperation.

Maura chuckled. “I’m sure he was. Tobias is very passionate about his sharks and their wellbeing. Alright, I can take Daniel to the Aquarium. What about you Jane?”

“Well, I dunno.” She looked down to her youngest daughter on her lap, who was very busy playing with her mother’s long hair. “What do you think, little lady? Do you want to stay with me and we can entertain ourselves with some coloring and a stroll to the park or-” She was rudely interrupted by a loud toot.

Jane looked utterly bewildered for a few seconds, before she started laughing. “Oh my god Sarah!”

The little girl just grinned. “Mama, poop!”

Maura snorted most inelegantly and started laughing as well, followed by the other three children.

******

After successfully directing the twins to their room to get dressed for the day, Maura moved to clear the table. She had to laugh as Jane playfully held their youngest daughter at arm’s length and started for the stairs, while complaining about stinky little ladies and their poop timing.

“Her timing was perfect!” Kenzie called after them with a cackle.

“So, where will you be taking Michael?” Maura asked, opening the dishwasher and pulling the lower rack out.

“He said he wants to go to the Science Museum. Am not sure what he wants to get there as a present, but hey!... Dinosaurs will keep him entertained for an hour or more.” The teenager replied, holding out a stack of plates for her mother to organize onto the rack.

“Oh, that is a good idea.” Maura nodded.

Just then, Mike came stampeding back down the stairs, half-naked and T-shirt in his hand. “Kennie! Can I tell you my idea?!” He called out, barreling around the kitchen counter and colliding with his sister’s legs. “Please?! I wanna know if you think it’s cool!”

Maura chuckled at the teenager’s fond but equally exasperated look. “It’s okay, go on. I’ll take care of the dishes.”

Kenzie grinned, placing the remaining plates on the counter and gently ruffling Mike’s hair. “Alright buddy, I want to know what idea you had for Danny’s gift. But first let’s sort out your clothes, you’re wearing two different socks.”

“Oh!” The boy looked down and wiggled his toes in his fluffy socks. “It’s one yellow and one red… Oops!” he giggled, dragging his sister along. Maura could only shake her head in amusement.

Kenzie directed them into her room. “Wait here, I’ll go get your right socks. Which color do you want?” She playfully tickled his toes as he jumped onto her bed.

He giggled. “Red! To match my T-shirt.” He waved the item in question around in the air.

“Okay, buddy. Put it on and let me take your yellow sock.” She quickly pulled the sock off and tickled his foot.

“Nooooo!” He screeched, falling back on the bed and laughing loudly.

Kenzie just chuckled and left the room to find the rest of his clothes.

A few minutes later, Mike sat on the edge of Kenzie’s bed, kicking his legs impatiently as he waited for her to come back from his room with the proper colored socks and a hoodie and jacket for him to wear over his Kung Fu Panda T-shirt.

The teenager returned with the missing red sock, which she threw at the little boy with a grin. “Here you go, you little tornado. Is the panda hoodie okay?”

“Yes! I like Po. The Dragon Warrior!” He stood on the bed in what Kenzie was sure was supposed to be an intimidating pose but was significantly cuter due to his puffed-out cheeks.

“Alright. Put on your sock and the hoodie, and then you can tell me about your idea.”

The boy nodded and sat back on the bed to get the missing sock on, while Kenzie retreated a few steps back to close the door so they wouldn’t be overheard, accidentally or otherwise. She sat on the bed next to the brunette boy as he reached for the hoodie and pulled it over his head. She gently combed out his hair with her fingers, while he wiggled his arms into the sleeves.

“Can I tell you now?” Mike grinned up at his sister as she straightened out the hood at his neck.

“Yeah, let’s hear it.”

The little boy beamed at her. “ ‘member when we had the space class in school?” He asked. “Ms. Jensen had a surprise fo’ us and she invited Professor Kevin to show us things about stars and space and-… and comets? It was really cool! And fun! And we touched a space rock!” He bounced around and waved his hands enthusiastically.

Kenzie nodded. She did remember a month or two back the twins coming home from their pre-school more excited than usual, especially Danny. They’d walked in the door after Maura and had apparently been regaling her the entire drive home about their special class on stars, planets and the universe. And Danny had spent the rest of the evening spouting random little facts about Saturn and its rings, and moons and space rocks and a number of other things that he’d learned both from the class and the book that Professor Kevin had given each of the eager little students.

“And I really liked the class!” Mike continued. “But Danny _liked_ it more! And the book! He likes looking at the pictures and knows a lot of things abou’ space. Sometimes we look at the book before bed and he tells me things. Like… like… oh, there’s water on Mars!”

Kenzie chuckled. “I see. So, you want to get him something at the Museum that is about space?”

Mike nodded vigorously. “But it’s something real special.” He leaned in close, eyes bright. “In the class, Professor Kevin told us about the planets and the Sun. And he explained how they go around the Sun, and some are little, and some are real big. And! He showed us lots of pictures, but- but…” He took a deep breath. “He showed us the real fluffy toys! They were this big…” He held his hands about 5 inches apart. “And some were bigger!”

Kenzie’s eyes widened and she grinned. “Oh, hey I remember those! Your teacher sent Maura the pictures from that day…” She scrambled off the bed to her desk and grabbed her tablet. Mike was bouncing excitedly as she sat back down next to him. The girl scrolled through her pictures, until she found the ones that Maura had sent to the whole family. “Here.” She tilted the tablet toward her brother with a picture of the whole class, their teacher and Professor Kevin, with all the kids holding a number of colorful round plush toys of each planet of the Solar System.

“Yeah!” Mike grinned widely. “Professor Kevin said they were called … uh …Ce-les-ti-al…” He spelled out slowly to make sure he got it right. “…Buddies! From space!”

Kenzie looked at her brother’s beaming grin and could only grin back. “Mike… This is a really good idea! Danny will _love_ one of these buddies.”

“Yeah?” Mike intoned hopefully. “It’s a good idea?”

“It’s the best idea!” Kenzie laughed as the little boy pumped his fists in the air and then fell back on the bed with an excited shout. “Alright!” The girl stood up from the bed full of energy. “I’m gonna get dressed and then we're going to the Museum to look around the dinosaurs and find a buddy for your best buddy.” She turned to Mike still on the bed, who was looking at the picture on the tablet. “Do you know which one you want to get?”

The boy’s eyes widened. “Nooo… There’s so many!”

Kenzie laughed. “It’s okay, we’ll figure it out.”

The teenager moved to her closet to find a pair of jeans, a shirt and a warm jacket, just as there was a knock on the door, followed by giggles and a sweet little “In pwease!”, and by Jane’s deep chuckle.

Mike sprang off the bed to go open door. “Hi!” He greeted brightly, moving aside to let Sarah toddle in toward Kenzie. The teenager scooped up the little girl and gently threw her on the bed, amidst a fit of more sweet giggles.

“Kid, I can see your boobs!” Jane called with a smirk.

“Oh, shut up, Ma!” Came the indignant shout from the closet.

“Ma, guess what?” Mike patted at her leg to get his mother’s attention. “Kennie thinks my idea is cool!”

“Well that is fantastic, isn’t it?” Jane smiled warmly down at her beaming son, who nodded in agreement. “So where are you going?”

Mike leaned in to whisper “The Science Museum! We’re gonna see the dinos! And get Danny’s gift!”.

The brunette woman chuckled. “That is a good plan, buddy. D’you think Sarah wants to see the dinos too?” She moved to the bed to tickle the little girl. “What do you say little princess? Do you want to go with Mike and Kenzie to the Science Museum?”

Mike threw himself on the side of the bed, close to his little sister to give her a kiss on the cheek. “I’mma visit the dinos!”

The little girl’s eyes lit up and she grabbed her brother’s cheeks in her little hands. “Big dinos?”

“Yes!” He puffed out his squished cheeks, earning himself a giggle “And you can help me get Danny’s gift!”

“I help!” The little girl smiled wide and nodded in agreement. “Mama go?” She asked her mother, looking at her with wide eyes.

“Ah, no. I need to go help your Nanna. She’s somehow managed to clog her bathroom sink. _Again_ … So, no. I’m not coming with you.”

Sarah nodded seriously. “Good!” She said with a cheeky grin.

Jane pretended to be affronted. “Well, _excuse me_ , young lady! What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re old and your kids don’t wanna hang out with you.” Kenzie smirked evilly as she emerged from her closet fully dressed.

“ _Hey_!” Jane shouted with a scowl at her eldest. “I’m not old, show some respect!”

“Nope!” The teenager sing-songed and quickly left the room, amidst her mother’s indignant shouts and her siblings’ laughter.

******

It took another half an hour until everyone was ready to begin their chosen activities. Maura and Danny were the first to leave, with promises to take lots of pictures of the baby shark, and a stern but gentle reminder from Maura to Mike and Sarah to behave themselves and to stay close and listen to their older sister.

Kenzie then helped Mike get his jacket on and asked him to collect his bus pass and their Museum of Science membership card. Maura had been insistent that the investment would be more than worthwhile because all of them could reap the benefits of free entry to the Museum, any time, every day, and she was absolutely thrilled that all her children were enthusiastic about science and nature, if at varying levels of interest; the most recent discovery being that little Sarah loved everything dinosaur!

The little girl in question had plopped down on her butt in front of her sister with her purple sneakers in hand, when Kenzie had asked what shoes she wanted to wear. Mike returned with his bus pass hanging around his neck and the Museum membership card in hand. He handed it over to Kenzie before helping Sarah back to her feet, grinning at her when she enthusiastically pointed to her purple sneakers.

Jane came down the stairs with the baby-slash-diaper-slash-‘kids are messy, you better have wipes!’ bag in hand. “Okay, so I packed the bag. In case Sarah needs a new diaper or something less dramatic, you should be set. Oh, here’s a jacket for the little lady!”

Sarah giggled and grabbed the proffered dark purple puffy jacket. “He’p pwease!” She asked her brother, who puffed out his chest in pride at being asked for help.

“Kid, come here.” Jane called the teenager over to the kitchen counter. “We know the boys said they wanted to use their piggy banks, but Maura and I agreed that we are happy to fund this idea they had this first time. Maybe a few subsequent times as well. We talked to them too, and after some patient explanation they agreed that they might not have enough just yet for the gifts, but they wanted to be sure that when they do get an allowance or something along those lines they could pay for the gifts themselves.” She shared a grin with her daughter. “So, I’m giving you a few twenties, should cover lunch too. Obviously don’t go overboard…” She gave the girl a pointed look. “And don’t buy drugs!” Kenzie rolled her eyes. “Or the shrimp and kale sandwich at the Grab & Go, that stuff’s vile and all kinds of wrong. But especially the drugs!” Kenzie scoffed at her. Jane just smirked and patted her cheek. “You’re a good kid. Please take care of my other good kids…” They turned to look at the two smaller children, finding them holding hands and Sarah poking curiously at Mike’s bus pass.

“Well, let me grab two bottles of water and a sippy cup and we should be ready.” Kenzie chuckled at the excited shrieks coming from her siblings, moving to a cupboard to find Sarah’s dinosaur sippy cup.

Five minutes later, backpack on her back and the diaper bag in hand, Kenzie declared they were ready to go. There was much cheering from Mike and Sarah as she gently herded them out the door, Jane chuckling at the teenagers’ simultaneously half-fond and half-exasperated look.

******

The Dinosaur Exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science was definitely a favorite among the youngest of the Rizzoli-Isles children. Kenzie was right in her assessment that it would entertain Mike, and definitely Sarah, for more than an hour. The two children walked around hand in hand, ohhing and ahhing at all the models of dinosaurs on display, poking and touching all the interactive and tactile displays, giggling and laughing themselves silly. Mike carefully led his little sister around, stopping so she could gawk and point at the huge dinosaurs, telling her all the things he knew about them, and helping her identify the fossils. There was much laughter about the dinosaur poop fossils.

After an eventful bathroom break, the trio wandered into the Museum Gift Shop. Mike looked around excitedly. “Do you see’em, Kennie? Where are the space buddies?”

“I think I saw them before with the other plush toys…”

The boy nodded and skipped away with a grin. Kenzie and Sarah followed at a slower pace, stopping here and there so the little girl could poke at touch and feel books, gasp at brightly colored displays and coo over cute toys. Kenzie had been rather fascinated that her siblings were not prone to demanding their mothers buy them toys everywhere they went or throwing tantrums if they were not allowed to have something they wanted. She’d heard some horror stories from Angela, and in a few of the foster homes she’d been in such things were swiftly met with harsh punishment. But she’d seen Maura gently explaining why the children didn’t need another action figure or plushie at that time and the outcome was always rather conciliatory, if populated with a lot of pouting and puffed out cheeks most of the time. She was confident she could let Sarah wander about, poking at things without her demanding anything, because these kids were raised by the best women she knew.

There was suddenly a victorious crow from further into the shelves. “I found them! There’s sooooo many!”

The two girls peered around a shelf toward the back of the store, where Mike was gawking at shelves upon shelves of colorful Celestial Buddies. They joined their brother, Sarah petting a large plushie of planet Jupiter curiously and giggling in delight. “Soooft…” She cooed, with a grin.

The 5-year-old boy looked up at his older sister with wide eyes. “Difficult to choose, huh buddy?” He nodded with a pout. “Okay, let me see if I can limit the choices…” She did a quick scan of the listed prices, grimacing at some of them. She knelt next to Mike. “So, my suggestion is to choose from the smaller ones. The big ones, like Jupiter, Saturn and the Sun, are more expensive. And while the Black Hole looks very funny, maybe you should start with a planet…”

Mike giggled. “Danny told me about the Black Hole. It eats everything!”

“It’s why it has a big mouth… Can even eat the Sun!” Kenzie pointed to a shelf that had indeed one of the Sun plushies halfway inside the Black Hole plushie. The boy laughed. “But as I was saying, maybe try the smaller planets… Earth…” She indicated a shelf full of blue plushies. “Mars…” It was another shelf, full of red-ish, brown, plushies with white tufts on top. “or Mercury, he has cool shoes.” One of the lower shelves had a number of grey plushies with red and white running shoes.

“Okay…” The 5-year-old nodded his agreement. “Thanks, Kennie.” He moved closer to the shelves and started perusing the smaller plushies picking up one at a time, giving them a long considering look and studying them closely.

Kenzie let him be, moving a few steps away to Sarah who had found the dinosaur plushies and was absolutely delighted at the various options, poking and petting them eagerly. “I see you found the dinos…”

“Yes! Loads dinos!” She giggled, hugging a big, fluffy T-Rex close. Kenzie had to get her phone out and take a picture. She spent a few minutes taking more pictures of her sister and her antics, before Mike ambled over to them with a plushie in each hand.

“I think one of these…” He told his sister, coming over to where she was kneeling on the floor. “Earth has fun colors and is our planet…” He waved the blue plushie. “And Mars has funny hair… and is Earth’s buddy!”

“Did Danny also tell you that?” The teenager asked with a smile.

“Yeah, Danny’s real smart, he knows a lot of things.”

“How about we ask Sarah? She said she wanted to help.”

The little girl looked up at the sound of her name and came toddling over, after returning a big Triceratops to its shelf.

Mike held out the two plushies. “Sarah, which one is the best for Danny?”

The 2-year-old looked at the plushies, head tilted to one side. She poked one and then the other with a curious finger. She looked up at her brother, “Danny?”

Mike nodded. “Yeah… Which one will he like?”

The little girl puffed out her cheeks and patted at the Mars plushie’s tuft of white hair. She grinned. “This! Poofy!”

Mike beamed. “Yeah! Mars has fluffy hair. It’s funny!” He declared with a giggle.

Kenzie smiled amusedly, watching her siblings giggle over the tuft of fur on the plushie’s head. “So, this one then?”

The boy gave a determined nod. “Danny talks about Mars a lot, so he will love him. Hold, please?” he asked Sarah, who reached for the plushie and hugged him close, and turned around to return the Earth plushie to its shelf.

Kenzie stood up and slung the diaper bag over her shoulder again. “Alright buddies, we found a space buddy for our favorite buddy Danny. That is a lot of buddies…” She grinned at her siblings’ giggles.

They walked back to the main area of the shop and waited a few minutes in line to pay for their plushie. At the counter, the friendly employee greeted them joyfully, as Sarah leaned up on her tippy-toes to deposit the plushie on the counter. “Oh hey, it’s the Mars buddy! He has the best hair, right?” He asked with a grin.

“Yeah!” Mike agreed, nodding vigorously.

“Poofy haiw…” Sarah spoke up with a giggle.

“Right you are, little lady!” Mark, the employee, rang up their purchase, swiftly presented the total and accepted Kenzie’s payment, all while chattering to the youngest children about their adventure in the Museum. “Would you like a bag for your new buddy?”

“Yes, please!” Mike requested with a nod.

Mark quickly shook out a bag and rolled the plushie inside, handing it over the counter to Mike. “One last question, if I may.” The man leaned over the counter to whisper conspiratorially “Say, do you like dinosaurs a lot?” Both children nodded, Sarah more vigorously than her brother. “A lot, a lot?” More nods from the two siblings. “Then would you want some free dinosaur stickers?” He revealed 4 thick packs of stickers with a flourish.

What followed was a veritable fest of dinosaur-themed knick-knacks and collectibles that made little Sarah’s day. Several minutes later, Kenzie managed to gently prompt her siblings to place their new dinosaur paraphernalia in the bag with the Mars plushie. The Rizzoli-Isles children thanked Mark the friendly employee, before leaving the store and exiting the Museum toward the bus stop.

******

About two weeks later, the twins’ birthday finally arrived. Kenzie had barely woken up that morning when her brothers had burst into her room announcing they were now big boys and throwing themselves on her bed.

“Kennie! Kennie!” They called poking at her duvet. “Do you have our presents?!” They somehow asked in perfect sync. Kenzie had been named the guardian of the twins’ presents for each other, lest the surprise be spoiled. Two brightly wrapped packages had taken up residence in the top shelf in her closet and the time of their unveiling had finally arrived.

The teenager’s answer was a loud groan, that had the boys giggling. “No growling!” Mike proclaimed with a poke at her shoulder. “It’s our birthday!”

“Sorry kid, but they would no longer be contained…” Jane offered from the doorway with an apologetic shrug.

Kenzie groaned again, sticking an arm out of the bedding and waving it in the air dismissively. “ ‘S fine…” Mike and Danny cheered.

“Alright, you wild things!” Jane called. “Let’s try to remain calm.” The boys grinned widely as Kenzie sat up in her bed, bleary eyed and dark hair a wild mane around her head. “We will go downstairs and let Mackenzie wake up properly. _And_ -” her gaze turned stern when the twins started to protest. “She will join us in a few minutes and bring your presents. I know you’re excited for today, but let’s be respectful of other people, okay?”

The twins nodded, wide-eyed. “Sorry Kennie!” They intoned in sync again, moving back to their brunette mother.

“Hey, wait.” The girl called. She slipped out of the bed and knelt on the floor, opening her arms wide. The twins grinned and raced into her arms. “Happy Birthday!” The girl said quietly, squeezing them tightly until they giggled and giving each boy a noisy kiss on a cheek. “Now off you go, ‘cause I’m not awake yet!”

The two boys laughed, kissing her on the cheeks, “Thanks Kennie! You’re the bestest!” and racing out the door with an exasperated Jane following after them.

Ten minutes later, Mackenzie appeared in the living room with the two brightly wrapped packages. There was loud cheering, until Maura sternly but gently directed everyone to the couch to open a few presents and take pictures before they all would sit down for breakfast. Maura and Jane sat on the couch, sharing proud smiles and slightly misty-eyed looks. Maura held a camera and Jane held Sarah, who was still sleepy and curled into her mother’s chest for warmth and comfort. Kenzie sat on the floor in front of the couch with the twins and a small assortment of wrapped birthday presents, courtesy of their mothers and Angela, who was sitting next to Jane and trying (and failing) not to cry.

“Okay!” Kenzie started with a grin. “I assume you want to start with the gifts you have for each other?” There were eager nods and bright smiles from the two boys. “And who wants to go first?”

Mike and Danny looked at each other, speaking without words as only they could. “Danny should go first, he’s the oldest!” Mike proclaimed. Danny beamed.

“Okay then.” Kenzie picked up the package with the dinosaur-themed wrapping and passed it to Mike.

The boy grabbed it eagerly and then shuffled in place to face his twin. “Danny, you’re my bestest buddy! But I wanted you to have another awesome buddy.” He grinned and passed the package over to the other boy. “I had a real good idea! Kennie said it was good too and Sarah helped me choose! There were sooooo many buddies…” He muttered the last bit, earning himself a chuckle from Mackenzie and a giggle from his brother.

As Danny leaned over to hug his brother and then started peeling away the wrapping paper, Kenzie made hurried hand gestures at her blonde mother. “Make sure you get video ‘cause this is gonna be so cute!” She hissed. Jane snorted and Maura nodded seriously, making sure the camera was indeed recording video and leaning forward to watch the scene.

As he tore the paper away and got his first glimpse of red-ish, brown fur, Danny gasped in surprise. He eagerly ripped the rest of the paper away and stared in awe at the friendly, round-shaped plushie of Mars, the Celestial Buddy, with a tuft of white fuzz on top. He sat with his mouth slightly open and wide, bright eyes. “It’s Mars…” he whispered quietly, gently petting at the white tuft on the plushie’s head.

There was a surprised ‘oh’ from Maura, who was suddenly looking on the verge of tears. She looked at Michael where he sat very patiently and felt a warm glow spread across her chest. She was so proud of him for his thoughtfulness, for always being patient and listening to his ‘nerdy best buddy’, as Jane so very fondly called Daniel, and for knowing exactly that his brother would love the plushie.

The moment was broken when Sarah, slightly more awake, gleefully shouted “Poofy!” with a pointed finger at the plushie.

Danny jumped, slightly startled, and then started laughing. “Yes!” He shouted and tackled his brother onto the rug in a hug. “Thanks Mike!!” He said over and over, before sitting back on his knees and gleefully hugging the plushie close and petting his head and excitedly explaining that the white fluffy hair was supposed to represent the ice caps on the planet Mars and that there was water below.

Kenzie beamed widely at Maura, who had definitely shed a few tears, and Jane laughed in delight at the whole thing. Angela was full on bawling by that point and no one could stop her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has two extra scenes (so far...) that I will be posting soon! :)


	3. Public Bathroom Woes [Missing Scene]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the first missing scene of "A Celestial Buddy for Danny". This is the mentioned eventful bathroom break, after the dinosaur exhibit and before the gift shop.
> 
> This is a tiny bit ridiculous, but it was so much fun to write. An alert for public bathroom cleanliness is advised (I have seen some things...).
> 
> Also, Kenzie is sassy and the ladies are shameless!

The Dinosaur Exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science was definitely a favorite among the youngest of the Rizzoli-Isles children. Kenzie was right in her assessment that it would entertain Mike, and definitely Sarah, for nearly two hours. The two children walked around hand in hand, ohhing and ahhing at all the models of dinosaurs on display, poking and touching all the interactive and tactile displays, giggling and laughing themselves silly. Mike carefully led his little sister around, stopping so she could gawk and point at the huge dinosaurs, telling her all the things he knew about them, and helping her identify the fossils. There was much laughter about the dinosaur poop fossils.

Of course, that was somehow the prelude to the second poop episode of the day. Kenzie heard the quiet ‘Oh, no!’ from little Sarah, before she saw both her siblings heading back her way where she was leaning against the wall keeping a watchful eye on them. The little girl was pouting as Mike gently lead her back to their sister.

“What’s wrong?” The 16-year-old teenager knelt down, taking the little girl’s free hand in her own.

“Poop ag’in. Sowy…” Sarah kept pouting, looking down at her shoes.

“It’s okay.” Kenzie tilted the 2-year-old’s chin back up. “We’re prepared for that, it happens.”

“Bud I go potty!” The little girl replied with another pout and a sniffle.

“Oh, I know, you’re growing into a big girl who uses the potty. But accidents can happen… I think you might have been too excited about the dinos to remember to tell me you needed to go potty.”

“ ‘cited… I like dinos…” The little blonde girl sniffled again.

“Yeah, dinos are awesome. It’s alright to get excited. Don’t be sad. We’ll clean you up and then go find Danny’s gift, okay?”

“Yeah, don’t be sad Sarah.” Mike offered as well, leaning over to give his little sister a sweet kiss on the cheek. “We had loads of fun, right?”

The little girl nodded, hugging her brother. “ ‘tanks Mike.” She shuffled over into Kenzie’s waiting open arms for another hug.

“Everything’s okay, little lady. Let me put my backpack on and we’ll go find a bathroom.” The older girl dropped a noisy kiss on the little girl’s head, turning to grab her backpack. “Mike, you need the bathroom too?” The boy nodded. “Alright, we’ll go to the bathroom, then the store to get your brother’s gift…” She leaned in close to the two children. “I peeked in the shop and they definitely have all those buddies you’re looking for!”

Mike cheered and Sarah giggled. “You’ll see Sarah, they’re so fluffy!” The boy exclaimed.

“… And then we’ll go get some lunch. Good plan?” She received eager nods, as she put the diaper bag over her shoulder, and reached for her little sister to take her into her arms. “Up? So you don’t have to walk around in a poopy diaper…” The little girl nodded, clasping her arms around Kenzie’s neck and her little legs around her torso. “Off we go then.” The dark-haired teenager stood up, smiling when Sarah laid her head on her shoulder. “Stay close Mike, I don’t want to lose you the crowd.” She warned, as the trio set off for the bathrooms.

******

The Rizzoli-Isles children navigated their way down the busy hallway leading to the bathrooms. The line into the ladies’ bathroom was significant and extended out the door into the open plan area leading into the public bathrooms, as was usually the case. They navigated around the women standing in line, with Mike making use of his proper manners and politely excusing himself so they could get past, toward the designated children’s and baby-changing bathroom. Only to find out that it was out of order for an indeterminate time.

“Oh, come on!” Kenzie groused. “That’s just uncool… At least warn a person ahead when you see’em walking in with children…”

One of the women standing just in the door to the ladies’ bathroom heard the complaint and called out “Hey kid, sorry… they did put two changing tables in here…” She gestured with her thumb over her shoulder into the ladies’ room “You can use this bathroom to change her…”

Kenzie sighed and threw a relieved grin at the woman. “Thanks! I thought I was gonna have to walk all the way upstairs…”

“Don’t worry, been there, done that…” She woman chuckled and some of the other women around nodded in understanding.

“What about me?” Mike asked with a tug to his sister’s jeans.

“Well buddy, it seems you’ll have to use the big boys’ bathroom… That should be… an _experience_ …” She frowned at the closed door of the men’s bathroom, shuddering at the thought of what might lie ahead.

“Okay!” Mike moved determined to said door and pushed it open, Kenzie following close behind. The ladies waiting around all turned to watch them disappear inside, with looks ranging from amused, to sympathetic, to full on grimaces.

Inside the men’s bathroom, the ten or so men standing at the urinals and sinks all turned with raised eyebrows at the newcomers. Mike hesitated when everyone looked at them and Kenzie just raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

“Uh… this is the men’s bathroom…?” One of the men standing at the sink, in a suit and top hat of all things, gestured around hesitantly.

“Yes, I noticed, thank you. No need to panic gentlemen, you got nothing I’m all that interested in seeing, so carry on. I just wasn’t gonna let my brother come in here on his own.” Kenzie patted Mike on the shoulder. “On you go buddy… Let’s find a toilet, ‘cause the urinals are still not for your size. Just- … let’s make sure it’s somewhat clean.” She suggested with a frown at the stalls.

The men just stood frozen, mouths hanging slightly open.

Mike wandered off hesitantly, peering into the nearest stall, Kenzie looking carefully over his shoulder as well. He peered into the next and then the one after that one (all somehow lacking toilet paper), and when he hesitantly pushed open the door to the fourth, they all reeled back several steps amidst exclamations of “Yuck!”, “Jesus Christ!” and “Pee!”. The latter one had come from Sarah, causing Kenzie to look at her while trying to shield Mike from the disgusting sight inside the stall, “Do you mean you or _that_?”

“ _That_!” The little girl exclaimed with an imperious pointed finger.

“You’re absolutely right. _Who does_ _that_?” Kenzie muttered. “Alright! Mike, out we go, ‘cause that is a big fat ‘hell, no’… yes, I know it’s a bad word…” She added when he peered at her with wide yes. “We’ll go to the ladies’ bathroom, which should be much cleaner!”

Mike nodded, still wide-eyed, and hurried along back toward the door. He stopped there so Kenzie could catch up and frowned when one of the men walked past him, pulled open the door and walked out. Kenzie caught the door before it could close.

“Kennie, that man didn’t wash his hands after peeing.” He stated with a pointed finger as his sister gestured for him to walk out.

The conversations and excited chatter, and even the background noise, all dropped abruptly at that. The women still standing in line turned almost as one to the man in question, as well as some of the other people and families standing about.

The man froze mid-step, not necessarily because of what the boy had said, but more because of the look his girlfriend was giving him. He then realized everyone was staring at him and started turning an alarming shade of red. He swiftly turned on his heel and glared at the boy. “Excuse me? That is none of your business!” He took a step forward, which had Kenzie stepping in front of her brother.

“Dude, nuh uh.” She warned with a menacing glare, stopping him in his tracks. “You do not get to scold my little brother for calling you out on your poor hygiene… That is just disgusting, which, considering the state of the bathroom, is honestly saying something.”

The man just seemed to be getting angrier, a vein starting to throb at his temple.

“Momma says to always wash hands!” Mike said with a frown, holding onto his sister’s side. “And also to clean up after myself if something gets dirty. It’s why there’s lots of wipes in the bathroom!”

Inside the men’s bathroom, the men could be seen, through the still open door where Kenzie stood, hurrying around to the sinks and liberally using up most of the available soap.

“Go potty, cwean hands. Momma say so…” Sarah added with an assertive nod.

“Kids have better manners than a grown-up.” Kenzie scoffed, gaze turning fierce again as the man moved to take another step forward. “Walk away.” She warned. “Just walk away. Also, I think you’re single again…” She gestured at the retreating woman behind the man.

He swiveled around and left in a flurry of curse words and rude gestures.

“That is a lot of bad words…” Mike muttered wide-eyed, as the murmur of chatter picked back up again.

“Yes well, let’s not repeat any of them.” Kenzie shook her head. “Let’s go Mike, back of the line-”

“Actually, kid…” One of the women called and gestured to the line. “You can take my spot.” A number of women standing behind her nodded their assent. “Men can be pigs and that was kind of awesome… uh, I mean no offense to the kid obviously…” That was followed by a number of chuckles.

Kenzie hesitated. “Uh, are you sure?”

“Hey kid, get to the front of the line!” Another woman called from inside the bathroom, poking her head around the open door. “You and your siblings have all earned rights to use the damn bathroom without having to deal with men and their urinals.” There was all-around laughter from the women, as they moved aside to let them pass.

“Well, this day is just something else, huh?” Kenzie grinned down a Mike. “See what good manners gets you?” She then turned to Sarah, bouncing her gently “All this because of your poopy diaper!” The little girl giggled and hid her face in the older girl’s neck.

They walked into the bathroom, where another eight or so women were standing in line to use the facilities, Mike waving cheerily around, much to everyone’s amusement. Kenzie moved to one of the changing tables that were indeed set up to compensate for the closed children’s bathroom. She eyed the top of the table critically before setting the diaper bag down. “Hey Mike, see if Ma put the towel in there? Don’t know how clean this is and we don’t want Sarah’s cute little butt touching strange places, do we?”

“Nooooo…” the little girl muttered with a giggle.

By that point, the women had forgotten they actually needed to use the toilets, despite one or two stalls having just been vacated, and watched the whole thing with amusement and a great deal of interest.

Mike opened the bag and peered inside, spying the blue towel stuffed to the side. He reached in and pulled it out. “Here! I’ll help!” He handed one end of the towel to his older sister and took the other to help her spread it over the table. He grinned proudly as he patted the towel down into place.

“Thanks buddy.” She sat Sarah down on the table. “Now off you go to the toilet. Try not to fall in! If you get stuck, I can’t help you!” She teased, grinning at his unrestrained laughter. “Take some of the wipes with you…” She gestured at the bag at her feet. “but don’t throw them _in_ the toilet. They go in the bin. You can use them to clean the seat, alright?” He nodded, grabbing a pack of wipes from the bag.

The boy walked up to the front of the line, looked up at the woman there and asked very politely if he could indeed take her place in the line and use the toilet. Kenzie swore she saw the woman swoon a little bit, as she nodded her assent with a wide smile and bright eyes. “Of course, honey, go right ahead!”

Mike smiled at her, responded with a dutiful ‘thank you!’, before approaching the nearest empty stall and peering inside. “Oh, this is very clean…” He turned back to look at his sisters with a grin.

“Okay, why did he say that with a surprised tone?” One of the women in line wondered out loud with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t think we _want_ to know what they _saw_ in the other bathroom…” Another woman replied with a grimace.

Several women looked at Kenzie for confirmation. “Nope. No one needs to know.” The women all flinched in sympathy. “Mike, you don’t need to lock the door, but close it so we don’t all see your cute butt sticking out.” Kenzie directed at the boy cheerily, causing another round of amused laughter.

“Okay!” He called back, walking inside the stall.

“Now you, little lady.” Kenzie turned to the little girl bouncing gently on the table, moving to take off her puffy jacket and placing it over the bag on the floor. “Lie down so we can sort you out.” Sarah did so with a giggle. Kenzie grabbed a clean diaper and another packet of wipes and set about expertly changing her sister’s diaper. She gently pulled off her shoes and jeans, undid the clasps of the diaper and opened it up. “Legs up!” Sarah did so with another giggle. As she removed the soiled diaper and then wiped front to back and the little behind, and made sure everything was clean, a few of the women watched with raised eyebrows.

“She’s really good at this…” One commented.

“Kid is better than my husband!” Another one muttered.

A teenager standing with her mother looked slightly horrified as a diaper full of poop was quickly rolled up and put in a disposable bag, followed by the dirty wipes. The mother looked at her daughter rather smugly. “Take a good look, Alisson. This is what awaits you if you don’t use protection during sex!”

“ _Oh my god mom_!” The girl shrieked in absolute horror.

The older girl, possibly a college student, standing behind the pair let out a loud snort and then started cackling, setting off a chain reaction along the line. Kenzie looked over her shoulder at the laughing women. “This is just getting ridiculous now…” She muttered to herself, putting the last wipe in the bag. She procured a soft cloth from the bag at her feet, using it to make sure Sarah’s little behind was dry.

There was the sound of a flushing toilet as Mike walked out of the stall looking rather proud of himself. “All done!”

“Good! Please put this in the trash…” Kenzie quickly tied a knot on the bag and handed it over as her brother walked past, depositing the packet of wipes he’d used back in the diaper bag.

“And wash hands!” The boy proclaimed seriously, as he placed the bag in the trash and ambled off to a sink.

Kenzie chuckled, buttoning Sarah’s jeans and tickling her belly. “You’re all clean, little lady!” Sarah laughed and let out quiet ‘noooo’ at the tickles, grabbing at her sister’s fingers. “Let’s get your shoes on.”

“Uh Kennie…” Mike called. “I can’t reach!” He had his arms stretched in front of him to try and reach the tap, but he wasn’t tall enough just yet to have them fully over the sink edge and be able to reach.

The college student standing in line (everyone was still standing around having forgotten they still needed to use the bathroom) moved toward him. “I’ll help you little buddy, if that’s okay?” She directed at Kenzie with a questioning look. “While you finish with her?” Sarah was poking at the velcro straps of her sneakers with a deep frown, having somehow managed to pull them off their slots.

“Sure. Thank you.” The dark-haired teenager agreed, after a moment to study the stranger.

The other dark-haired girl nodded with a smile. “Hi.” She approached Mike at the sink. “I’m Maddie. Is it okay if I pick you up to help you reach the water and the soap?”

Mike peered at her with curious eyes and then grinned. “Hi Maddie, I’m Mike. Thank you for helping me!”

“Not a problem little buddy. Let’s see if we can keep your impeccable hygiene. We wouldn’t want you to end up like that man from before.” The girl laughed at his deep frown and his vehement ‘No!’.

Kenzie finished fastening Sarah’s sneakers and helped her back into her jacket. She picked her up from the table to set her on the floor, watching amusedly as Mike cheerfully directed his new friend to swing him over to the soap and back.

“Kennie!” Sarah called, patting at her leg. “Cwean hands?” she held up her arms and wiggled her fingers.

“You want to wash your hands too?” The teenager asked, chuckling at the eager nod.

There were more delighted whispers and definitely some swooning from the ladies in the line, until a voice called from the outside, “Ladies! Please move the line along! I just got my period and if you don’t hurry up the hallway is gonna turn into a crime scene!” All of a sudden, there was a flurry of activity, as the women at the front of the line hurried into the vacant stalls with exclamations of apology, while another group shuffled in amidst more laughter.

“These ladies are just shameless today…” Maddie commented as she gently set Mike back on his feet and grabbed him a bunch of paper towels from the dispenser. “Here you go buddy.”

“Thanks!” He said with a grin. “Kennie are we going to the shop now?” He asked his sister where she stood gently soaping up Sarah’s small hands.

“Yeah Mike, we’re going to the shop.”

“Yes!” He bounced on his feet in excitement. “I’mma get Danny’s birthday gift. He’s my best brother buddy!” He explained to the older girl.

“I see. I’m sure he is the luckiest boy to have you all as siblings.” Maddie replied with a grin. “Well, I’m gonna rejoin the line again before someone takes my spot. Very nice to meet you Mike!” She knelt to shake his hand, which the boy did enthusiastically. “Take care of your sisters, yeah?”

He nodded seriously and waved at her. “Bye Maddie. Thanks for the help.”

The older girl waved at the trio and quickly took back her place in the line.

Kenzie decided it was high time they left the bathroom shenanigans behind, and quickly threw out the paper towels she’d used to dry her sister’s hands. She went back to the changing table, folded up and put away the towel in the diaper bag, slung it over her shoulder and gently herded her siblings out before anything else could happen.


	4. Dinosaur Collectibles [Missing Scene]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second missing scene from "A Celestial Buddy for Danny". The scene is set in the gift shop.
> 
> This one is a bit shorter, but still just as cute!

After finding the ideal Celestial Buddy for Danny, Kenzie, Mike and Sarah walked back to the main area of the shop and waited a few minutes in line to pay for their plushie. At the counter, the friendly employee greeted them joyfully, as Sarah leaned up on her tippy-toes to deposit the plushie on the counter. “Oh hey, it’s the Mars buddy! He has the best hair, right?” He asked with a grin.

“Yeah!” Mike agreed, nodding vigorously.

“Poofy haiw…” Sarah spoke up with a giggle.

“Right you are, little lady!” Mark, the employee, rang up their purchase, swiftly presented the total and accepted Kenzie’s payment, all while chattering to the youngest children about their adventure in the Museum. “Would you like a bag for your new buddy?”

“Yes, please!” Mike requested with a nod.

Mark quickly shook out a bag and rolled the plushie inside, handing it over the counter to Mike. “One last question, if I may.” The man leaned over the counter to whisper conspiratorially “Say, do you like dinosaurs a lot?” Both children nodded, Sarah more vigorously than her brother. “A lot, a lot?” More nods from the two siblings. “Then would you want some free dinosaur stickers?” He revealed 4 thick packs of stickers with a flourish.

Sarah gasped, bouncing on her toes. “Weally?” She asked, eyes alight with happiness.

The employee grinned widely. “It’s part of a new advertisement from a new sponsor of the Dinosaur Exhibit.” He explained to Kenzie. “There’s stickers, pencils, bookmarks, keyrings, a set of collectible cards, coloring books, mugs and glasses for the adults, some movies, it’s a whole thing… The sponsor is a big fan of dinosaurs and might have gone a _little_ overboard…”

The teenager grinned. “You’re advertising to the right kids, that’s for sure.”

“Well that is good to hear!" The man was really excitable, he clearly enjoyed his job. “Then, some stickers for the young man and the young lady!” He handed over the packs of stickers much to the children’s delight and then opened a drawer to rifle inside. “And a few pencils for each…” Again presented with a flourish. “And let’s see…” He slammed the drawer shut and turned to the cabinet behind him, opening a door and peering inside. Kenzie boggled at the stacks of DVDs, books and other things. “Hmmmm… let’s go with a movie… no, two movies…” He briefly glanced over his shoulder to look at his customers, finding the little girl enthusiastically pointing out her stickers to the older girl and smiling brightly. “Oh, what the hell, let’s go with three.” He shrugged with a grin and turned back with the three cases in hand, which he handed over to the wide-eyed boy. “Now, these movies are part of a big collection called _The Land Before Time_. There’s fourteen of these movies, but let’s start you off with the first three! You can watch with your family, and especially your sister…” He glanced to the little girl, still bouncing around in delight.

“Sarah loves dinos…” Mike whispered in awe, accepting the DVDs from the kind man.

“She does, doesn’t she?” Mark snapped his fingers. “Well, I have a special treat for her then!”

Kenzie could only shake her head in dismay as the man started shuffling things around in the cabinet causing a coloring book to fall on his head from the top shelf. She was however very grateful to Mark the cheerful employee for putting such a big smile on Sarah’s little face; the little girl had gasped in delight when Mike had showed her the DVDs, offering to hold her pencils and stickers so she could hold the cases and see them better. The teenager looked up at the triumphant ‘A-ha’ from the employee, eyebrows raising to her hairline as he quickly came around the counter with a delighted grin to kneel in front of her siblings.

“For you little lady, I have a special collection!” He announced, presenting a shiny hardcover book and ten colorful booster packs of cards. Sarah was as starry-eyed as Kenzie had ever seen her. “So, all these packs have eight cards inside, all with different dinosaurs and some are special shiny cards. You can open the packs and find out what cards they have inside, and then you can put them in this special book…” He opened the book, showing colorful pages of dinosaurs and their habitats and an assortment of information on them. “The cards go in these slots here…” he tapped one of the transparent plastic sleeves glued on a page in the book “and if you collect all the forty different cards, you’ll have a complete book! And, of course, you have all the information and fun facts about all the dinosaurs that you can read with your siblings!”

Kenzie was slightly concerned her little sister might just pass out from excitement. Sarah kept looking between the colorful book and the man with such a look of joy on her face, the teenager was, once again, very glad she’d had her phone in hand to film the whole exchange.

“That is so cool!” Mike exclaimed with a shake of the bag containing the Celestial Buddy for Danny. Kenzie gently took the DVDs still in Sarah’s hands before they were dropped in all the excitement.

“Weally?! Fow me?” The two-year-old bounced on her toes, leaning forward to grab the book with a delighted gasp.

“Yes, little lady, all for you!” Mark grinned, passing the packs of cards to Mike, since Sarah was too busy squealing at the book. He then almost fell backwards when the little girl rushed to give him a hug, and then gave him a kiss on the cheek followed by a beaming smile and a ‘ ‘tank you!’.

The man blushed to the roots of his hair, and Kenzie could only laugh. “You just made her day! She’ll talk of nothing else the whole weekend.”

He stammered, slightly embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Oh… That is… uh, sweet…” He rose back to his feet and quickly returned behind the counter. He cleared his throat and threw the older girl a lopsided grin. “It was my pleasure really! They’re very sweet and polite. Actually… I noticed you guys by the plushies before and she was just petting all the dinosaurs…” He nodded to Sarah, who was engrossed in her new book and pointing things out to Mike. “Most kids would be begging their parents to buy them a bunch of things, or knocking things over without the parents even caring, or throwing tantrums… She was just looking at things and playing with them, but then putting them back without a fuss… It’s refreshing and I think that ought to be encouraged!”

Kenzie nodded. “Yeah… Our moms are all about that sort of thing… Be polite and well-mannered; use ‘please’ and ‘thank you’; there’s no need to buy things just because you want them or because someone else has them; put the toys away… Turns out that makes for really great kids.”

Mark chuckled. “Indeed. Oh, and here, you get a grown-up mug with a funny picture of a dinosaur chasing a chicken and a lobster- don’t ask! I don’t choose the pictures!” He added with a laugh at her raised eyebrow. “And a keyring!” He presented both items with another flourish.

Kenzie accepted the items with a chuckle. She then gently prompted her siblings to place their new dinosaur collectibles in the bag with the Mars plushie, although Sarah insisted she wanted to carry her new book herself. The Rizzoli-Isles children thanked Mark the friendly employee once again for his kindness, Mike giving him a high-five and Sarah waving enthusiastically, before leaving the store and exiting the Museum toward the bus stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You will notice there is now a fixed number of chapters. The one after this will be another main chapter, with Danny procuring Mike's gift - this one is being written, so it'll be a few more days until I post it.


	5. A Bat Buddy for Mike

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the chapter about Danny finding the perfect gift for his brother.
> 
> This turned out to be very long, and what I had planned to be 'missing scenes', all fit nicely into the whole chapter. As such, this is the final chapter of this birthday adventure (at least for now...).

Ever since the twins had successfully presented their idea of giving each other a birthday gift, Danny could often be seen walking around with a pad of drawing paper and a number of colorful pencils in his pockets. He would come down for breakfast in the morning with the pad in hand and set it next to him on the table; he would take it to school with him in his Finding Nemo backpack; he would visit Maura at work and sit quietly at her desk, a look of pure concentration on his face as he drew in the pad; he would place it on his bedside table before going to sleep. Maura had to gently remind him once or twice to take the pencils out of his pockets every day before they ended up in the washing machine and turned everyone’s clothes rainbow-colored.

Until eventually Maura and Kenzie were finally informed of the purpose of the pad.

Maura had been sitting on the couch one evening perusing a medical journal on the latest advancements on reconstructive surgery for burn victims, when Danny had come down the stairs, already in his favorite Finding Nemo pajamas, with his trusty pad and a pencil in hand.

“Momma, can you help me please?” He approached his mother on the couch and smiled at her.

Maura set aside her journal. “It is almost your bedtime Daniel…”

“I know momma, but this is important, and Ma said you could help me while she tells Mike the bedtime story.” He shuffled onto the couch next to his mother.

“You don’t want a bedtime story?” The woman smiled at her son, lifting her blanket and tucking it around him.

He wiggled himself close to her and patted his pad. “No momma, this is very important.” He stated seriously, looking up at her. “It’s for Mike’s birthday gift.”

“I see. That is very important indeed.” Maura agreed with a gentle smile. “And what do you need my help with?”

The boy opened his pad to the first page, which was blank. “This is my book of ideas for Mike’s gift!” he declared, turning over the page and revealing a drawing of multiple colored blocks and other shapes resembling Lego bricks and pieces. “I drew pictures of all the favorite things that Mike likes!” He announced with a smile.

Maura smiled fondly, a proud look on her features. “This is a very good start, Daniel.” She kissed the top of his head. “Just like your list when you presented your idea.”

“Yeah!” Danny grinned. “Look, I drew Legos…” He tapped on the page and then turned to another filled with colorful semi-elaborate figures, “And superheroes…”. The next page had a large drawing of a panda, surrounded by smaller drawings of other animals, “And Kung Fu Panda…”. And the page after that had drawings of food items, “And, here, I drew all the things Mike likes to eat!” He said with a wide grin.

Maura had to laugh at that. “Michael likes to eat a lot of things, doesn’t he?” The page was filled with drawings of cookies, pizza, fruit, pasta and a number of other food items.

“And there’s more pages with baseball, and dinosaurs, and skateboarding, and cars and trucks, and football, and Mike’s favorite movies…” he drew a breath “And a picture of our family, because it’s the most important… Not for a gift, because we already _have_ our family, but it should be on the list of things that Mike really likes…”

Maura had to try hard not to start crying. Daniel was certainly the most sensitive of all her children and Jane insisted he was the most like Maura, despite there being no biological relation between them. Maura had long ago been convinced (mostly by Jane) that a blood relation was not in any way the only, or most important, factor in the development of a person. Jane would always refer to Paddy Doyle and Hope and Cailin, and then gesture around to their house full of rambunctious children, and point out that her own mother lived across the driveway, and enumerate all the uncles, blood related or otherwise, that their children had. As Maura drew Daniel closer to her under the blanket and pressed another kiss to his hair, she had never been more grateful for Jane and their extended, and sometimes ridiculous, family.

“You worked very hard on this. I’m very proud of you.” She whispered into his hair.

“Thank you, momma. This is very important. I want to get Mike something he will like forever.” He said with a determined nod. “So I don’t want to forget any of the things he likes!”

“I agree. So, what can I help you with?” She inquired, as the 5-year-old turned back to the first page in his drawing pad.

“I need help with letters, momma. I want to write here…” he tapped the blank page with a finger “ ‘Ideas for Mike’s gift’ and ‘Mike’s favorites’ with a- uh… exclamation point.”

Maura chuckled. “Very well, I will help you.” The woman agreed with another kiss to her son’s hair.

For the next half hour or so, mother and son worked together quietly. Danny would say the word and Maura would spell out each letter of said word for the boy to write carefully on the page. The boys had been learning to write letters for a while now in pre-school. They could identify them and write them all, even if they turned out a little wobbly. Mike would sometimes still forget one or another or get one or two wrong, but Danny was always there to help his brother out. They were best buddies and they helped each other, as they would often proclaim.

Once he was finished, Danny looked at his work with critical concentration. “The ‘g’ looks funny…” He said with a giggle, closing the drawing pad with a satisfied nod. “Thank you, momma!” He twisted to give his mother a hug, which she welcomed wholeheartedly.

“You are very welcome, Daniel. Now, I believe it is time for bed…”

The little boy nodded in agreement, shuffling off the couch and waiting for his mother to fold the blanket and place it down. He then reached for her hand and then let himself be guided upstairs into his bedroom, where Jane was dramatically finishing Mike’s bedtime story.

******

A few days later, on a stormy Sunday afternoon that had trapped everyone in the house, Danny knocked on his older sister’s open bedroom door and peeked inside. The teenager was rummaging around in her closet, placing the washed and folded laundry away in its proper shelves and drawers.

“Hey buddy.” She greeted, looking over her shoulder and waving the little boy inside.

“Hi Kennie! I need help please!” He padded over to the corner of the room that had a small couch and jumped on it with a giggle.

“Okay, let me just finish here and I’ll help you.” The girl stood up and reached for a hanger to put up a few button-down shirts.

The boy nodded and waited patiently, tapping his fingers on the drawing pad he’d brought with him.

Kenzie sat next to him a few minutes later. “So, what’s up Danny?”

“Kennie.” The little brown-haired boy started very seriously. “I need help with Mike’s gift. He likes a lot of things and I can’t decide!” He proclaimed with a pout.

The older girl laughed. “That is a problem.” She agreed, nodding along. “Let’s start from the beginning… Tell me about all the things you know Mike likes.” She proposed.

Danny nodded and shuffled closer to lean into his sister’s side, placing his drawing pad on her lap and flipping it open. Kenzie read the words on the first page and chuckled. “This is pretty neat. Did you make a list?”

The boy grinned. “I drew pictures! Look!” He flipped to the next page with the colored Lego bricks and then flipped to a few more, showing off the superhero page, and the food page (which had Kenzie laughing again), and the pages with baseball gear and skateboards. “It’s all Mike’s favorites!”

“This is awesome!” The girl complimented, her brother beaming widely. “You’re getting real good with your drawings.”

“Thanks Kennie! But this is a lot of things…” He frowned, looking down at his drawings pensively. “How can I choose?” He looked up at the girl with another pout.

“Hummm, how about this…” Kenzie flipped the pages back to the beginning. “You can make another list with all of Mike’s most favorites _from each page_ … So, for example, from the superhero page pick one or maybe two of Mike’s favorite heroes…”

“Batman and Iron Man!” Danny said promptly with a firm nod.

“Right! And from the food page you can pick, say, the dish Mike likes best, one fruit he likes the most, maybe his favorite drink and dessert?”

Danny nodded, a frown of concentration on his face.

“And I can tell you a little secret…” The girl added, leaning in close with a grin. “You don’t have choose anything from the baseball page, or other sports pages ‘cause I know Ma, uncle Frankie and uncle Tommy want to get Mike a lot of sports gear so he can play with them.”

“Oh! That’s good. Mike loves playing baseball with Ma!” Danny said with a grin.

“Yeah! See, we can start reducing your choices and make a shorter list for you to choose from, okay?” Kenzie suggested, her brother nodding in agreement. The teenager went to her desk to find a sheet of paper and a pen, returning to the couch so they could get to work.

The siblings spent the next hour going through all of Danny’s drawings and compiling a list. Kenzie even got a bit choked up when she saw the last drawing of the whole family. She’d been officially part of the Rizzoli-Isles for almost a whole year (since the official adoption had been finalized), and had even gotten to experience a real, slightly dramatic and amazingly over-the-top family Christmas just a few months before. She’d always been amazed that the younger children had taken to her almost immediately, a complete stranger much older than them; Mike and Danny had been three-and-a-half years old, and Sarah had been barely six-months old. Right from the first time they’d met they decided she was the ‘bestest ‘cause she pways Wego’ (as the twins had proclaimed when she’d helped them build a Lego tower the first time she’d spent the day at Maura and Jane’s house) and that she was the only one who could soothe crying fits (as everyone found out when she’d once been handed a hysterically crying baby Sarah, who’d promptly stopped crying with a look of bewilderment on her chubby little face).

By the end of the afternoon, just before Maura called everyone to the dinner table, the two siblings had compiled a shorter list (written by Kenzie and illustrated with small drawings by Danny) of Mike’s many favorites, that Danny could use to help him choose a gift for his brother. They determined that his favorite Lego sets were of superheroes and airplanes; his favorite superheroes were indeed Batman and Iron Man; his favorite Kung Fu Panda character was obviously Po; his favorite foods could be reduced to pizza, Nanna’s very special lasagna, momma’s pancakes, donuts with chocolate icing, carrot and orange juice with a bit of kale (Jane had been slightly horrified at such a blatant betrayal by one of her flesh and blood), ‘panda poop tea’ as it was jokingly called (Jane had lost all composure at that) and bananas and avocados; that he had the most fun playing sports with his Ma and learning how to skateboard with Kenzie. The list also included his most favorite dinosaur, truck and car, the fluffiest socks he liked the most, his favorite color, and the Kung Fu Panda and Hotel Transylvania movies.

Danny had tucked the list into his drawing pad and thanked his sister with a big grin, hugging her tight and proclaiming she was the ‘bestest’ before skipping out the door and down the stairs for dinner.

******

Another few days later, found Danny sitting at his small desk in the room he shared with Mike, perusing his drawings and the list he made with Kenzie’s help. He had managed to further narrow his choices with more help from his momma, who had surmised that there were enough Lego superhero sets and enough superhero action figures in the house to last a lifetime (her exasperation had been clear and Danny had giggled) and there were no new airplane sets appropriate for their age. His Ma had also told him all about the balls, bats, gloves and other assorted sports gear that she and uncle Frankie and uncle Tommy were getting for Mike. Sarah had helped reduce the food choices by gleefully pointing to the avocados one time they were at the supermarket and proclaiming ‘Mike loooove…!’ with an imperious look on her cute little face.

Danny had eventually reduced his choices to Batman, avocados, firetrucks and Kung Fu Panda. He had circled the appropriate words with a green pen with his Ma’s help, and he sat at his desk looking pensively at the circles and little drawings of each choice. He tapped the Batman and avocado pictures with a furrowed brow, before getting up and ambling over to his brother’s desk where Mike had a few drawings and a lot of colored pencils scattered about.

He looked up at the board above the desk. They each had one such board where they could hang their drawings and pictures of their friends and family and other assorted mementos. On Mike’s board, prominently displayed was a drawing he’d made at school during their creative class. Danny remembered his brother had had a lot of fun drawing the picture of Batman throwing an avocado at the Joker who was running away; however, for some reason, the Joker did not have green hair. Danny tilted his head looking the picture.

“Hey Danny!” Mike greeted as he came into the room with his Lego Batmobile in hand. He walked over to their giant box of Legos and peered inside, looking for a Robin minifigure.

“Mike, I have a question about this picture.” Danny called tapping the drawing he had been looking at.

“Oh, okay.” The other boy nodded and walked over to stand with his twin.

“Why is Joker’s hair not green? He always has green hair…” Danny asked, head tilted curiously.

Mike grinned. “Oh! I had a funny idea!” He sat his Legos down on the desk and tapped at his drawing. “Batman was chasing the Joker because he was being evil, but he had no more batarangs!” He made a swish motion with his arm, as if he was throwing a bat-shaped weapon. “He looked in his Batmobile, but there were no more.” He said dramatically. “But! Batman was getting ready to eat his lunch when the alarm went loud because of the Joker. So Alfred had put his lunch in the Batmobile and Batman found the avocado…” he pointed to the green blob resembling the fruit, “… and he threw it at the Joker when he was running away! And the avocado hit the Joker in the head and the avocado turned his hair green!!” He finished his explanation with a wide grin.

Danny blinked and then started laughing very hard. “That is soooo funny!”

“I know!” Mike crowed back excitedly, also laughing loudly.

Kenzie was walking past the boys’ room just then and could only shake her head at Mike’s wild imagination.

******

After pre-school the next day, Danny was sitting in his mother’s office at the morgue grinning cheekily while she perused and made notes in a case file. “Why are you grinning like that? Are you planning something mischievous?” Maura asked with an amused tone.

“No momma! I have a funny idea for Mike’s gift!” He announced, still grinning.

“Oh really?” The doctor put her pen down and focused on her son sitting on the chair in front of her desk.

“Yeah, I need to find a fluffy Batman and a fluffy avocado!”

Maura looked absolutely confused. “Uh… I’m… what?”

“I’ll explain, momma!” Danny was so excited, he was shaking in his seat. “Mike has that picture from school where Batman is throwing an avocado at the Joker! And he told me that the Joker’s hair turned green because of the avocado!!” He laughed loudly. Maura could only blink confusedly. “It’s very funny, momma! So I want to get Mike a fluffy Batman, and also an avocado! So that Batman can turn people’s hair green!” He kept laughing so hard, Maura was concerned he’d slide right out of the chair. She was also still very confused, but then again she understood very little about superheroes and their methods of vanquishing their enemies. If her sons told her Batman could win against the Joker with an avocado of all things, who was she to argue.

Kenzie walked into the office just then, raising an eyebrow at her laughing brother. “What is happening?” She asked.

“I am not entirely certain, but it seems Daniel has decided what he wants to gift Michael on their birthday.” Maura turned slightly in her chair to look at her eldest child. “I am really not sure how it makes sense, but it seems to involve Batman and avocadoes?”

“Oh my god, really?” Kenzie snorted. Noting her mother’s confused look, she tried to explain. “You know that drawing that Mike did at pre-k? With Batman throwing an avocado at the Joker?” Maura nodded hesitantly. “Well I was listening to them talk yesterday and Mike had this whole scenario about Batman running out of gadgets and only finding the avocado from his lunch and throwing it at the Joker. Apparently, that is how the Joker’s hair turned green.” The girl grinned at her mother’s perplexed look. “I dunno, it is kinda funny. Mike has a wild imagination when it comes to superhero scenarios…”

Maura still did not understand half of what she’d been told, but she decided she would not ask more questions. “I think I’d rather not know…” She shrugged. “You children have very strange ideas.” She shook her head but smiled in amusement when Danny suddenly hiccupped and then giggled some more.

“Oh don’t worry. I’ll help him out with specifics, and I’ll translate into terms you’ll understand.” Kenzie grinned and walked around the desk to pick up her brother from his seat. She threw him over her shoulder much to his delight. Maura chuckled at her children’s antics and turned back to the folder on her desk.

“Alright buddy, tell me about your funny idea.” Kenzie sat on the couch and let the boy flop over her shoulder onto the seat with more laughter.

When Maura next looked up, she found them huddled together with the girl’s tablet in hand, perusing pictures of what she assumed were options that could bring Daniel’s idea to fruition. Maura smiled fondly, watching Mackenzie giggle and Daniel scrunching up his nose and shaking his head vehemently. The next picture had his eyes widening dramatically. He leaned in closer to the tablet and pointed at something on the screen. “It’s a Lego Batman?!” He exclaimed incredulously.

Kenzie threw her mother a grin. “I think we found a winner…!” She tapped on the tablet a few times and then Danny gasped in delight.

“Look Kennie! It’s a fluffy Lego Batman! He has Lego hands! And look!” He exclaimed excitedly “He’s the Batman from the movie!”

The teenager chuckled. “Yeah, it is Lego Batman. Let’s see… It says here this is one of the minifigure plush toys Lego made for The Lego Batman Movie… There’s Batgirl too…” She perused the information some more and clicked on a link to the Lego store. “Oh, hey, they have them available at the Legoland Discovery Center here in Boston… What do you think, Danny? Is this what you were looking for?”

The little boy looked at her with big smile. “No! It’s better! It’s a _fluffy_ _Lego Batman_! Mike’s favorite is Legos! And Batman! He’s gonna _love_ fluffy Lego Batman!”.

Maura laughed at her son’s squeal of joy, as he flopped on his back on the cushion and laughed himself silly again. Kenzie stood from her seat and came to her mother’s side with the tablet, showing her the picture of the plush toy and explaining in more detail what exactly it was and why it was the perfect choice. A lot of the Batman plush toys they’d perused were downright creepy-looking.

“Well, I will trust you on this Mackenzie, as this is beyond anything that makes sense to me.” Maura shook her head and stood up, shedding her lab coat and moving to grab her coat from the stand by the door. “A man dressed as a bat… what a silly thing…” She muttered to herself.

“If you think that’s weird, I won’t even tell you about Man-Bat.” Maura raised a skeptical eyebrow. “That is a whole other thing…” Kenzie commented with a grin.

“Well, since the choice seems to have been made, should we go acquire the plush toy right now?”

Danny actually rolled right off the couch onto the floor at that. “Really?!” He popped right back up and ran to his mother, throwing himself at her. “We can go get fluffy Batman now?”

“Yes, I think we can. I’ll let your mother know where we’re going. She can bring Michael, Angela and Sarah home. I assume they are upstairs?” She looked at her daughter for confirmation.

“Yeah, last I saw, Mike was looking at funny dog videos with Korsak and Sarah was flirting with the customers in the Café.” Kenzie answered with an eyebrow waggle.

“Mackenzie, my daughter was not flirting!” Maura replied haughtily, winking at her daughter and grabbing her purse.“She was being her usual friendly self, with appropriate doses of her sunny disposition, her cute smile, and impeccable manners.”

“ ‘Appropriate dose of sunny disposition?’ Is that the accurate scientific terminology you’re using now? What is the world coming to?” The teenager gasped dramatically. “Look out Danny, your momma has been replaced with a low-grade copy!” She teased, quickly escaping the office to the elevator, Danny giggling and Maura laughing in her wake.

******

The trio walked into the Lego Store at the Legoland Discovery Center to utter chaos and a cacophony of noise.

Maura was aghast. “What…? It is a school night, why are so many children here? And where are the parents?”

Kenzie chuckled. “We’re here too… But this seems indeed a bit much. Did they bring in school classes or something?” She quickly took a step back to avoid a collision with a speeding little girl as she gleefully ran away from her haggard looking mother. “Well! Danny, hold my hand. If we lose you, we’ll have to replace you with the fluffy Batman; he’ll be Mike’s new brother.”

“No, no!” He giggled and grabbed her hand, holding tight and shuffling closer to his sister.

The teenager turned to Maura. “You want to hold my hand too?” She teased. “It’d be a shame to lose you in the middle of all these little children. One of them might like you too much and take you home with them.”

Maura narrowed her eyes at her grinning daughter. “Are you sassing me?” Kenzie cheekily raised her right hand and held her thumb and pointer finger an inch apart. “Well that is just rude!” The woman retorted with a clearly amused scoff. “Daniel…” She leaned slightly forward to look at her son. “Please do not let your sister teach you how to sass your mothers, that will not be acceptable.” Kenzie barked out a laugh and Danny just giggled. The doctor chuckled and wrapped a hand around her daughter’s offered arm. “So, where can we find the plush toys?”.

They walked around the shop, careful to avoid collisions or being run over by highly excitable children, until they arrived in a corner reserved for special items, which indeed included a number of Lego minifigure plush toys.

Danny gasped in delight when he spotted the Lego Batman plushes. “Look, look!” He pointed a finger up at the shelf containing both Batmen and Batgirls and bounced happily. “They’re big! And it’s Lego Batman!”

“I have to admit, I did not think I’d ever see a plush toy of a little yellow Lego figure…” Maura commented, smiling at her son’s enthusiasm.

“Yeah, these are actually kinda cool…” Kenzie agreed, looking at all the displayed characters. “And hey, they have Emmet too! _Everything is awesome_ …” She sing-songed the last part.

“Lego Movie!” Danny laughed.

“Fun, right? But we’re here for this guy…” Kenzie reached up to the shelf, plucking one of the best-looking Batman plushies and holding it out to Danny. “Do you think this is it buddy?”

Danny grabbed hold of the plush toy almost reverently, holding it at arm’s length and staring slightly wide-eyed. “It’s just like Batman from the movie!” He whispered quietly, running a hand over the toy, finding it to be soft, and then holding one of the Lego-shaped hands. He looked so awed. Kenzie knelt down next to him and ran a hand down his back. “Kennie… Do you think Mike’s gonna love him?” The little boy asked quietly, looking at his sister with wide, uncertain eyes.

“Buddy, I think he’s gonna be so excited he’s going to fall right over and laugh himself silly!” The teenager assured with a wide grin.

Maura watched them quietly, love bursting in her chest at seeing her eldest daughter, who’d never really experienced the unconditional love from a mother or family before coming to them, gently reassure her son that his brother would definitely love the plush toy because it combined two of his favorite things. “And he will love it even more when we find a little fluffy avocado that can fit right into Batman’s hands!” The girl softly tapped her brother’s hand where he was still holding the toy’s Lego-shaped hand. “You’re turning his very funny idea from a drawing to reality… That’s something very special.”

The little boy nodded slowly. “Yeah… Mike’s my best buddy… He has to have something real special for his birthday…”

“This is definitely special. You had a very good idea, Danny, making your drawings with Mike’s favorite things, and then choosing something that comes right from his imagination and that he can play with. And you know Mike has lots of funny and silly ideas!” The girl grinned, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

The brown-haired boy nodded, his uncertain look turning into a wide smile. He threw himself at his sister, fluffy Lego Batman and all, and hugged her tight, whispering a quiet ‘thank you’.

As the girl stood back to her full height, Danny returning to his excited demeanor, Maura placed a gentle hand on her back. Kenzie turned to her curiously. “What?” She asked, at the look she was receiving.

“Thank you. I know you’re still not very comfortable hearing this, but I love you Mackenzie.” The woman said seriously, but with a tone full of warmth and love. The girl’s eyes widened, and she blushed. “I am very, very glad that you gave Jane and I the opportunity to get to know you, even if it was difficult and rather fraught with anger and distrust in the beginning.” She removed her hand when she felt the girl stiffening up slightly. “You have a very good heart and you show it the most with the children…” She looked to Danny, who was beaming widely and turning the plush Batman around in his hands to look at the also fluffy cape. “So, thank you.” Maura smiled gently at girl, noting sadly that she was still tense and not really meeting her gaze. Not for the first time, she wished she could take the girl’s pain away, but she knew it would not really be possible.

The doctor turned to her son and told him they should find the cashiers so they could purchase the new toy. He beamed up at her and nodded vigorously. They started moving when Maura felt a soft touch to her hand. She looked up into her daughter’s teary eyes.

“Thanks Maura…” Kenzie whispered hoarsely. “I… for… uh, you know… everything…” There was a tiny, unsure little smile on her lips.

“Oh Mackenzie…” Maura murmured, moving to envelop the girl in a tight hug and place a kiss to her temple and murmuring very softly in reassurance. She eventually felt the girl sigh and tightened her hold momentarily, before stepping back slowly with another kiss to her forehead. She watched the girl compose herself, and then grinned. “We really should be going, before we lose sight of my wayward son in the crowd. Then we will really have to replace Daniel with Batman of the avocadoes…”

Kenzie chuckled at the loud protest from the little boy, who came careening back to slam into their legs with a giggle. “Nooooooo, momma! I’m special, you can’t replace me!”. He pouted at her, eyes wide and bright.

Maura laughed. “That is a most compelling argument, you are indeed very special to me. So, please, do not run off… I know you’re excited, but you have to stay close in crowded spaces.” Kenzie was fascinated at how Maura managed to gently incorporate lessons and requests for good behavior into the conversation without making it sound like a lecture or like she was scolding her children (although that did happen sometimes, especially when Mike was being his usual rambunctious self and needed to be reined in).

“Okay.” The boy nodded seriously. “Here, I’ll hold your hand momma! I don’t wanna lose you!” He then looked at the Batman plushie in his other hand and turned to his sister. “You gotta hold momma’s hand, Kennie. I have Batman and can’t hold your hand.”

“Oh my god, this kid is just too cute!” Kenzie muttered, the boy beaming widely at her. Maura laughed in delight, lacing an arm with her daughter and moving them back to the front of the store to complete their purchase.

The trio stood in line for several long minutes; it appeared everyone and their child had decided that that was the evening to purchase Lego sets and other collectibles, and to throw minor and major tantrums at the cashiers. Maura was not amused and was, perhaps, very discreetly, judging a number of inept parents (if anybody asked, she would neither confirm nor deny, but Kenzie could only grin at her mother’s completely unimpressed expression) and the store employees were even less enthused about the whole thing.

When the three of them finally reached an available cashier, the poor man standing behind the counter could barely hide his grimace at the sight of another small child. Maura could not really fault him, for the customer before them had been well beyond rude and their spoiled child even more so. She was not at all concerned, however, because all her children had impeccable manners and had been brought up to be polite and respectful with other people.

“Hello!” Danny greeted cheerfully, with a small wave. “I like your tie! Lego Flash is very funny!” Phil, the employee, was indeed wearing a red and yellow Lego Flash tie over his Lego store uniform shirt. “We want to buy Lego Batman, please!” He placed the plush toy on the counter and grinned at the bewildered looking man.

Kenzie had to laugh the employee’s stunned look, as he blinked several times at the little boy still grinning at him.

“Uh… Thank you…?” He looked up at the other two people with the boy, finding one grinning and the other with an eyebrow raised in amusement. His eyes widened and he cleared his throat. “I mean, welcome to the Lego store! How can I help you today?” He looked down at the plush toy on the counter and actually face-palmed, much to Kenzie’s delight. “Right… Lego Batman… This is _not_ my day…” He muttered to himself, shaking his head. “I’m sorry-” He started to apologize.

“No, please. We understand.” Maura quickly intervened, with an understanding smile. “That man should be given a slap right upside the head and a kick to his behind for good measure… That was just appalling!”

“Maura!” Kenzie laughed at her mother’s ferocity, the woman giving her a wicked grin.

“You know I’m right Mackenzie.” She winked at her daughter and turned back to the employee. “I understand you may be running out of patience, but I can assure you we are not going to make your day more difficult.”

Phil gave a thankful smile. “Thank you… It has been a bit of a trying day for all of us…” He motioned to his colleagues, some looking quite haggard and other’s who’d lost their smile completely. “But!” He turned a friendly grin to Danny. “Hello, young man. Thank you, Lego Flash is indeed quite funny, he’s always moving too fast and running into things!”

“Yeah!” Danny agreed with a wide smile.

“But I see you’re here today for Batman…” The man scanned the barcode and pressed a few buttons on his machine.

“It’s a fluffy Batman, it’s so cool!” Danny exclaimed excitedly, bouncing on his toes.

“I know, these plushies are really well made and are good for cuddles too!” The man grinned down at the little boy. He presented the total to an amused Maura, who swiftly took out her card and completed the purchase.

“And here you go!” The employee shook out a bag and placed the plushie inside, handing it over to Danny.

“Thank you! Oh, can I ask a question?” Danny went so far as to raise his hand, as if to wait his turn, at which Kenzie had to laugh again.

“Sure thing. What do you want to know?”

“Do you have Lego paper? For… for wrapping presents?” He asked curiously and turned to look at his mother. “Momma, I think Mike would like his gift in Lego paper! It would be fun, right?”

“I think so too, Daniel. We can wrap Batman and the uh… avocado…” Maura looked at her grinning daughter somewhat helplessly. “… at home, with any paper you want.”

Phil chuckled. “We do have wrapping paper. Do you prefer yellow, white or blue paper?” He turned to the cabinets behind him to find a roll of wrapping paper.

“Oh, yellow please! Like the bag.” Danny gave a little shake to the bag in his hand and giggled.

The man found a new roll, still wrapped in plastic, and turned back to his customers. “Well, here you go, young man. And I _insist_ …” He started to say when he noticed Maura reaching for her purse. “This is on the house. You have been the nicest customers I’ve had the whole day, so thank you.”

“Are you sure?” Maura questioned, hand still on her purse.

“Yes, please. Your son has impeccable manners, I guarantee that doesn’t happen as often as I would like. And he complimented my tie!” Phil turned to the grinning boy and held out his hand to him. “Thank you, young man, it was very nice to meet you!”

Danny shook his offered hand enthusiastically and waved at him, as Maura thanked him for his kindness and wished him a good evening, before directing her roll-wielding son and her daughter to the door with a chuckle.

******

The second part of Danny’s gift to Mike required the procurement of a fluffy avocado. Maura still did not understand how an avocado could defeat Batman’s greatest archnemesis, but she’d long ago gotten used to only half-understanding her sons’ vivid imagination and decided to delegate the task of ‘fluffy avocado acquisition’ on her wife.

Jane had been utterly confused when she’d read that particular line on the list Maura had given her that Sunday morning for things to buy for the twins’ birthday. There was also an asterisk next to said line, which further below read ‘(gift for Michael) take Mackenzie and Daniel with you’.

List in hand, and frowning down at the paper, she knocked on Kenzie’s door and poked her head inside, just in time to watch the girl nearly fall over in her haste to shove something in the closet.

“Jesus Christ! This whole birthday present business is gonna give me a conniption…” The girl muttered, hand over her heart.

Jane chuckled, walking inside and closing the door against any wayward eyes and ears. “Just me this time, kid.” The girl sighed and opened her closet again to carefully place two inconspicuous black plastic bags on the topmost shelf. “Wait… you have two bags, does that mean you have each of the twins’ gifts? Why did Maura write ‘fluffy avocado acquisition’ on this list? Is she messing with me?” Jane waved the paper in the air with a frown.

“Oh…” Kenzie laughed. “No, she’s not messing with you. The fluffy avocado is part of Danny’s gift for Mike.”

“A _fluffy avocado_?! Why is there fruit involved?” Jane sighed exasperated, sitting on the edge of her daughter’s bed.

“Oh, it’s a whole thing involving Batman throwing avocados at the Joker and turning his hair green…” The woman just looked at her daughter with a raised eyebrow. “Trust me, it makes sense to the boys.” The girl shrugged, sitting next to her mother on the bed.

“Okay…” Jane acquiesced. “And why am I taking you along? Danny, I get, I figure he has to choose the… _fluffy_ avocado…”

“Oh, well…” The girl rubbed the back of her neck in slight embarrassment. “You remember how I found Barry, the Strawberry, for Sarah last Christmas?” It had been one of Kenzie’s favorite gifts to give to her siblings on her first official Christmas with the Rizzoli-Isles, because Sarah loved the walking, mischievous little strawberry from the second _Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs_ movie. And the friendly looking and overly fluffy, smiling plushie of a strawberry that she’d found in a toy shop was Sarah’s favorite thing in the whole world.

“Yeah?” Jane nodded with a chuckle.

“Well, Danny asked if I could help him find an equally fluffy avocado to complete his gift… because, apparently, and according to Maura, I have ‘prior experience in procuring fluffy fruit’…” The girl rolled her eyes and used air quotes. “You know, I’d never think that Maura would be the one with the deadpan sense of humor…”

Jane laughed. “I know, throws a lot of people off, it’s hilarious! Especially because she says it with a serious face!”

They shared a laugh, Jane patting her daughter on the knee and standing up. “Well, come on kid! I need to go find…” She peered at the list. “Superhero napkins, some reusable plastic cups and some superhero-themed party decorations, and I’m taking you and my little nerdy buddy along so you can… _procure_ the avocado.”

“Sure. Are we going right now?” The girl stood up as well and moved to her closet.

“Oh yes we are. Before Ma tells me some other pipe is ‘making strange noises’ or ‘there is bubbling brown stuff coming out of the sink’… I do not want to deal with that, yesterday was enough!”

“Worse than Sarah’s poopy diaper right after breakfast?” Kenzie laughed.

“Oh definitely. Sarah is my cute little princess, Ma is… _not_.”

Kenzie kept laughing as her mother left the room to find Danny.

Half an hour later they were in the car on their way to the mall and toy shop, where Kenzie hoped she could find a fluffy avocado. Danny sat in his car seat, kicking his legs gently and beaming widely. “Thanks for helping me Kennie!” He called to the front seat.

Kenzie chuckled. “Sure buddy, we gotta find the perfect avocado for fluffy Batman to throw at the Joker, right?”

“Yeah! Gotta help Mike help Batman stop the Joker!” Came the excited response from the little boy. Jane could only shake her head in amusement.

The arrival at the toy shop proved to be more or less similar to the Lego Store. Kenzie grimaced at all the squealing and shouting she could hear from within, Danny was already entranced with a few of the shiny bits and baubles he could see, and Jane let out a long sigh. “Perhaps this was not the best idea for a Sunday morning…”

“ ‘S’not like it’s Christmas, why are so many children on the loose?” Kenzie grumbled. “Was the same thing at the Lego Store…”

“Well, kids!” Jane patted her daughter’s shoulder absentmindedly and tried for some cheer. “We’re here now and we might as well get Danny sorted with his gift for Mike, then we won’t have to come back any time soon.”

“Yeah…” The little boy nodded, looking up at his sister and reaching out to hold her hand. “Gotta find a fluffy avocado for Mike… Help, please?” He smiled a sweet smile and tugged gently on the girl’s hand.

The teenager nodded with a smile and lead them toward the back of the store, to the section containing a large assortment of plush toys. Jane followed a few paces behind, entertaining herself with watching haggard looking parents trying to contain their children and failing miserably. She recalled Maura’s retelling of their trip to the Lego Store a few days before and had to agree with her assessment that they really had brought up their kids right. She was sure she would never find Mike, the most rambunctious of the lot, diving head first into a bin of toy cars and then screaming and throwing a fit in protest about not being allowed to have any of them; nor would she witness her little princess Sarah demanding three different, ridiculously overpriced, outfits for a doll with foot stomping and screams of ‘I hate you’. And Danny was generally very content with his _many_ springy balls and books, and sharing toys and other belongings with his siblings. All in all, Jane just strutted smugly after her well-behaved children, listening to Danny talk excitedly about the adventures he and his brother made up for when they played with their Avengers action figures, while chaos reigned around them.

They walked past shelves of Lego sets, and shelves of dolls, and more shelves of books and even more shelves of assorted toys that made noise or that threw colorful light everywhere or that talked or danced, and it seemed forever until they finally arrived at the plush toys. There was a delighted ‘Ooooooh’ from Danny as he saw the shelves upon shelves of fluffy figures.

“Wow, this is just extra…” Jane muttered, slightly wide-eyed.

“Look, look!” Danny pointed to shelf full of plushie emojis. “It’s the poop emoji!” He started laughing so hard, Kenzie could barely keep his hand in her own.

Jane snorted. “This too much…” Kenzie chuckled when Danny let go of her hand to latch onto her leg and continued laughing in delight.

They had to wait a few minutes for Danny to calm down and then he just kept giggling to himself for a while longer, as they perused the shelves looking for what Kenzie remembered being a shelf containing plushies of food items, including fruits. When they did find it, Danny’s eyes lit up and he beamed at his older sister.

“Okay, buddy, we found the food plushies. See if you can find any avocados and-” Kenzie started saying but was interrupted by a bark of laughter from their mother.

They turned to find her holding a plushie of a smiling slice of pizza. “Oh, I want one of these!”

“Oh my god, Jane.” Kenzie was amused. “Maura will kick you out of bed if you come home with something like that!”

“Momma says no food in bed!” Danny added with a giggle at his mother’s pout.

“You’re just mean, ruining my fun!” Jane scowled playfully at them both, placing the slice of pizza next to a fluffy hot dog. “This is honestly a little bit ridiculous…” She murmured, poking at a smiling plushie of a Starbucks cup.

“Yeah, well, when you get plushies of burgers, or a smiling toast with butter or even French fries, I’m sure an avocado is fairly low key…” Kenzie held up the items in question with a wide grin, to which Jane could only laugh.

The trio spent a few minutes shuffling plushies around trying to find the fruits, until there was a delighted squeal from Danny, where he was perusing the lower shelves. Jane and Kenzie turned to him, only to find him half-way in the lower shelf surrounded by wiggling plushies and mumbling excitedly to himself, before he reappeared in a flood of plushies falling off the shelf, holding three different-shaped and sized plushies of avocadoes.

“Look, I found’em!” He crowed in delight, his face obscured by the biggest of the plushies.

Kenzie went to help him before he toppled over amidst the fallen plushies. “Buddy, come here!” She called with laugh. The little boy hobbled around the plushies on the floor and all but fell into his sister’s arms with an ‘oof’ and a giggle. Jane just laughed and knelt down to start returning the fallen plushies back to the shelf.

The girl righted her brother back onto his feet and took the big avocado from his arms, to find his grinning face beaming at her. “Sorry Kennie! I got excited, they’re so squishy!”

“Yes, I can see that! But I think this big avocado isn’t gonna work for Lego Batman, unless he builds a big Bat-apult or something…” She wiggled the big avocado at him and then handed it over to Jane, who stuffed it back onto the shelf.

Danny nodded with another giggle and looked to the remaining, much smaller sized plushie avocadoes in his hands. “One of these is better…” He said agreeably. “Which do you like?” He asked of his sister.

“Which do _you_ think Mike would like best?” She countered with an amused smile at the bouncing little boy.

He looked from one to the other avocado with a furrowed brow. He hummed to himself and then held up the smallest (it was a little bigger than his hand) of the two plushies. “This is small, but it’s so soft and fluffy and friendly… Fluffy is better?”

“Fluffy is very good for cuddles. He is very cute too.” Kenzie agreed with a gentle smile “And it will fit better in Batman’s hand…”

“Oh, right! Gotta fit in Batman’s hand so Mike can help him throw it at the Joker!” The boy beamed. “Yeah, small and fluffy is the best!” He nodded vigorously and then turned to the shelf so he could deposit the other avocado next to its bigger counterpart. “Ma, look! I found the avocado for Batman and Mike!” He crowed triumphantly, Jane chuckling and ruffling his hair fondly.

“Well then, that was rather painless, and I am glad you found what you were looking for Danny.” The 5-year-old grinned and held the plushie close to his chest. “Let’s get out of here before I decide to take that fluffy slice of pizza with me…” The woman chuckled with a poke at the cute fast-food plushies. “Or before we get mauled over by stampeding children whose parents have no control over them.” She deadpanned at the loud screech coming from down the aisle where three little children were throwing themselves at the giant panda plushies and managed to upturn the large number of Micky Mouse toys of two adjoining shelves, which came tumbling down in a cacophony of noise.

The Rizzoli-Isles watched as three store employees came jogging around the corner at all the noise and frowned deeply when they realized what had happened. Jane would have liked to stay and watch the lecture that followed, from the very annoyed employees to the blustering parents, but she just shook her head and directed her children away. She was just very grateful for Maura and her dedication on instilling good behavior and proper manners in their children.

******

About two weeks later, the twins’ birthday celebrations had been kicked off with much excitement, and Danny was now the very proud owner of Mars, the fluffy Celestial Buddy. He sat on the rug next to his proudly grinning brother, smiling widely and gently petting his fluffy new buddy. Sarah had moved onto a teary-eyed, but also widely smiling, Maura’s lap, while Jane attempted to calm down a crying Angela, with a lot of eye-rolling and tissues. Kenzie just grinned and held onto the remaining gift. She was delighted that Danny had loved his new plushie, but she was looking forward to Mike’s reaction to his gift as well.

“Okay, ladies and gents!” Kenzie started. “Now that Nanna is in full control of her emotions again… more or less…” She grinned at the still sniffling woman. “We still have Danny’s gift to Mike.”

Danny sat up. “Oh! Right!” He gently set his new Mars buddy next to him, making sure he was facing forward, and grabbed the package in Lego wrapping paper that his sister was holding out for him. “Mike…” He faced his twin with a grin. “You’re my best buddy and you have a lot of favorites… So, I made a list with lots of pictures to help me decide. But I got this idea from one of _your_ pictures, which was really, really funny!” He handed over the package with a shy smile. “Kennie said its real special to turn your idea into something you can _play with_ , so I really hope you like it.”

Maura was once again trying to hold back tears, holding the camera steady and patting her youngest daughter gently on the back. Jane rolled her eyes at her once again blubbering mother and handed her the whole box of tissues. Kenzie leaned forward with a grin as Mike hugged his twin close, and gently held his hand and assured him he would definitely love whatever was in the package.

Mike then focused on the package with a big grin. “Lego paper! This is so cool…” He started enthusiastically tearing at the bright yellow wrapping paper, letting out an excited shout at the first sight of fluffy Bat-ears. “Fluffy _Lego_ Batman?!” The boy exclaimed wide-eyed, waving his arms in the air and then grabbing the plushie out of the mess of paper. As Mackenzie had predicted, the boy fell back on the rug laughing loudly and exclaiming, “Lego Batman!” at the top of his lungs. He quickly sat up again and looked at his twin with a big grin. “Danny! You found a Lego Batman!” He threw an arm around his brother’s shoulders and waved his new plushie around. “I’m _Batman_!” He growled in a deep voice, just like Lego Batman did so often. The twins laughed uproariously.

“I _know_! It’s so cool!” Danny gleefully crowed back. “Oh! But wait, don’t forget the little package too!” He scrambled around in the mess of wrapping paper until he found the smaller package and passed it over, bouncing excitedly.

Mike set his Lego Batman in his lap and made quick work of the wrapping paper, gasping when the fluffy little avocado was revealed. He blinked and then another loud shout was heard before he started laughing hysterically again. “It’s like my drawing! Gonna turn the Joker’s hair _green_!” Kenzie heard him exclaim gleefully. “Look, look!” Mike exclaimed in delight, fitting the small, smiling avocado into Lego Batman’s hand and clumsily flinging it at Danny’s head, who also dissolved into loud laughter when the little avocado plopped right into his forehead.

Maura and Jane were both laughing in amusement, despite still not really understanding how avocadoes could possibly be involved in the defeat of the Joker. Little Sarah gasped in delight when the little avocado came flying her way after the boys attempted to fling it at Mike’s head and it sailed right past him onto the couch. “Fwuffy!” The little girl exclaimed and threw the avocado right back at her brothers, hitting Mike in the head and giggling when he dramatically fell back, shouting for Lego Batman’s help. Kenzie could only laugh at their antics.

Angela was so confused by the whole thing, she had actually stopped crying for a few seconds, before promptly bursting into more tears at seeing her grandsons happily rolling around on the floor with their new plushies and laughing with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read this little slice of cuteness! For anyone interested, a plushie [Lego Batman](https://www.lego.com/en-au/product/the-lego-batman-movie-batman-minifigure-plush-853652) is actually a thing, and so are fluffy [avocados](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Squishable-SQU-104349-MINI-Avocado-7/dp/B075M2CFLQ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=squishable+avocado&qid=1586013119&sr=8-1)!


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